British nurse lost on dive - Red Sea

[drrich2]

While such things are multi-factorial in terms of individual and environmental parameters, I would think dehydration would be the key issue, followed by sunburn and hypothermia over time. When these situations arise, I wonder how long people can and have lasted in such scenarios.

Anybody got any idea what the historic outliers have been in people surviving adrift in tropical seas with a buoyancy device but no food or fresh water?

I don't know how far Jackson Reef is from land, or which way current may've swept her. The next question is how many miles a person might could swim, if he/she knew which way land was. Wonder what past outliers have accomplished in that regard?

 

[Dan]

While such things are multi-factorial in terms of individual and environmental parameters, I would think dehydration would be the key issue, followed by sunburn and hypothermia over time. When these situations arise, I wonder how long people can and have lasted in such scenarios.

Anybody got any idea what the historic outliers have been in people surviving adrift in tropical seas with a buoyancy device but no food or fresh water?

I don't know how far Jackson Reef is from land, or which way current may've swept her. The next question is how many miles a person might could swim, if he/she knew which way land was. Wonder what past outliers have accomplished in that regard?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna11242249

 

[tridacna]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/wbna11242249

Fortuitously he had some sustenance. Sans that, he would not be around today.

 

[Dan]

Fortuitously he had some sustenance. Sans that, he would not be around today.

How about this warmer water without food & drinking water:

4 diveres went missing - Malpelo, Colombia

As far as I can get from the article: 5 divers went diving at 4:30 pm on wednesday. 4 of them are missing. The fifth one was rescued at 6:30 am thursday. The one rescued is an american citizen. According to him, all surfaced, and the group of 4 inflated a SMB. There are 3 Colombian Navy ships...

scubaboard.com

Two out of 4 divers rescued after 2 days drifting at sea. If that happens to me, I probably won’t survive that long.

The DM was one of the two divers that has never been found. Ionically, he left his PLB / PAB in his cabin for this last dive of the trip. So, folks, please carry one when you do Ocean diving. I dove that site a few months ago, it’s I consider an advance dive site.

Trip Report - The Magic of Malpelo, July 9-18, 2021 on the Ferox

Our RIB, clockwise: Tanya, Rudolfo, me, Dan, Sten, Amy, Bob, and Sebastien From Sten's website Alive and Kicking: Malpelo Running During COVID (jamtsisu.com)

scubaboard.com

 

[Dan]

These 5 out of 7 divers lost at sea around Bali, Indonesia, found by fishermen in an island after 3 days, surviving with rain water.

7 divers missing off Indonesian island

7 Japanese divers missing off Indonesia?s island - thenews.com.pk By AP February 15, 2014 - Updated 941 PKT From Web Edition BALI: Indonesian police say seven Japanese tourists have gone missing while scuba diving off the resort island of Bali. Chief of Nusa Penida police Maj...

scubaboard.com

 

[drrich2]

From the link Dan shared:

"A scuba diver rescued after drifting in open sea for more than 72 hours said Thursday that he wouldn't have survived much longer.

"Honestly with the hallucinations that I had, especially yesterday, I don't think I would have made last night," Robert Hewitt, 38, told a radio network from his Wellington Hospital bed.


The former New Zealand navy diver said he began hallucinating toward the end of his ordeal, after three days without drinking water and only a crawfish and four kina, a type of sea urchin, as food from his dive bag.

"I honestly thought yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon I was at home. I started taking off some of my gear, here and there, floundering around like I was lost," he told radio network NewstalkZB.

Hewitt was found Wednesday by two searching Navy divers, floating about 500 meters off Mana Island, north of the capital, Wellington. He was dehydrated and very cold, wearing only the bottom of his dive suit, police search and rescue officials said."

So, a 38 year old former Navy diver (fairly young, I would imagine well-trained, comfortable in the water, not prone to panic), was markedly debilitated after 72 hours (more description in the article here) - he'd taken off part of his wetsuit due to mental impairment, I think. Still, water temp. and other factors vary.

I don't know how well 'optimal conditions' would prolong it (e.g.: warm water; a big help would be some rain, so the person could rehydrate), but it sounds like survival past 3 days is low probability.

 

[DawgFan]

MRG cons:
- limited range (line of sight, horizontal, < 8 miles)
- useless in ocean with no boat traffic or in location where boats don’t use AIS or DSC

Would a search and rescue helicopter be able to pick up the Nautilus MRG AIS or DSC signal?

 

[Dan]

Would a search and rescue helicopter be able to pick up the Nautilus MRG AIS or DSC signal?

I’m still searching such info. In the meantime, here’s a quote from SAR helicopter pilot:

Military and USCG helicopters can talk and receive on marine band VHF. USCG cutters and Navy ships usually monitor 16, and 9. I know we used 68 when I was on A Navy Ship but we didn't monitor it.

From his post #37 in the thread, below:

Best signalling equipment from the searchers point of view

The giant OMS safety sausage/lift bag (9' 6") has a loop big enough to put your leg through-with your fin on. Gets you further out of the water and makes it stand straight up without holding it.

scubaboard.com

 

[Dan]

I would think the SAR helicopter should be able to receive AIS or DSC MOB alerts, however, I am not able to find sources that say so.

https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aip_html/part1_gen_section_3.6.html

“…Aircraft and marine craft are equipped to communicate on 121.5, 123.1, 243.0, 500 kHz, 2182 kHz, and 8364 kHz. Ground rescue teams are equipped to communicate on 121.5 MHz, 500 kHz, and 8364 kHz. SAR aircraft and marine craft are equipped with direction finding equipment and radar.”

Those VHFs do not match with that of VHFs for AIS nor DSC.

From Googling:
“AIS transponders and receivers use two VHF radio frequencies: 161.975 MHz (AIS1, or channel 87B) and 162.025 MHz (AIS2, or channel 88B).”

“The frequencies 2187.5 kHz, 4207.5 kHz, 6312.0 kHz, 8414.5 kHz, 12577.0 kHz, 16804.5 kHz and 156.525 MHz may be used for DSC by coast and ship stations on a simplex basis for distress and safety purposes, and may also be used for routine ship-to-ship communications provided that priority is accorded to distress and ...”

 

[W Design & Engineering]

You're not going to be able to cut it open. You'd need a second diver to help twist. Just keep the O-rings lubed and open it daily.

We're a manufacturer on the boards for the first time to help you guys out on our canisters or canisters in general. We have found this on our early versions some years back, on Rev 3 (the only rev we sell now) we have modified the o-rings and their position so that it is not necessary to close the canister tight.

The problem happens when canisters are closed with the interface between the two halves touching, normal expansion push this already tight interface even tighter to the point its far to difficult to open a life saving device.

I can't say you can do this with any canister, try it empty first to see if it remains watertight. We ask our customers to leave a .5mm to 1mm gap (fingernail) between the two half's, this in no way affects water tight integrity on our design. You still get some resistance on the threads but in general it works quite well.

Lastly, DandyDon is correct, in our case (maybe others as well)you can lube the o-rings quite generously without any problem.